The study assessed the clinical utility of an invented spelling tool and determined whether invented spelling with linguistic manipulation at segmental and supra-segmental levels can be used to better identify reading difficulties. We conducted linguistic manipulation by using real and nonreal words, incorporating word stress, alternating the…

Invented spellings refer to incorrect attempts to spell words while writing, which are important indicators of children's development of phonemic awareness. Making Words is a popular activity to teach phonics and spelling, in which students manipulate letters in sequence to construct target words and then sort them into rhyming patterns. This…

The goal was to assess the role of invented spelling to subsequent reading and spelling as proposed by the Nested Skills Model of Early Literacy Acquisition. 107 English-speaking children were tested at the beginning of kindergarten and grade 1, and at the end of grade 1. The findings provided support for the proposed model. First, the role played…

This research describes the biliteracy learning of young bilingual children in an English as a Second Language classroom. In particular, it explores factors influencing their biliteracy in a context that provided systematic and formalized instruction only in English. Using a holistic perspective on bilingualism and sociocultural theories of…

This study examined analytical pinyin (a phonological coding system for teaching pronunciation and lexical tones of Chinese characters) skills in 54 Mandarin-speaking fourth graders by using an invented spelling instrument that tapped into syllable awareness, phoneme awareness, lexical tones, and tone sandhi in Chinese. Pinyin invented spelling…

Recent research in literacy acquisition has led to an elaboration of instructional programmes that focus on supporting children's progress through successive developmental levels. An example of such an approach is "analogy instruction," the basis of which is that children develop a system of recognition of shared patterns within words…

This qualitative study investigates the invented spellings of young EFL writers in terms of the relationship between phonological awareness and internalized grapheme-phoneme principles. Two kindergarteners and two first graders participated in weekly English writing tasks for 14 months. Results obtained from protocols of the students' free writing…

This investigation examined the effects of currently available word prediction software programs that support phonetic/inventive spelling on the quality of journal writing by six students with severe writing and/or spelling difficulties in grades three through six during a month-long summer writing program. A changing conditions single-subject…

Discusses children's use of invented spelling and explores developmental considerations in learning to spell. Suggests characteristics of an effective spelling program, including 60 to 75 minutes of instruction allocated over a 3- to 4-day cycle, and use of test-study sequences for directed word study. (ET)

Outlines a theory of developmental spelling, evolved from research on children's invented spellings, that can show teachers when best to teach aspects of spelling. Provides examples and several minilessons of the alternative approach to spelling instruction called Word Study, whereby words are examined by sound, by within-word patterns, and by…

Examines young children's ability to use simple morphological relations among words as a source of information about the words' spelling. Found that children used morphological relations among words only to a small extent. Suggests that although phonology plays an important role in early spelling, young children can also use other sources of…

Nonword spellings were obtained from children in kindergarten through third grade in a study of the development of young children's phonological and orthographic knowledge. Results indicated that young children's nonword spellings reflected the joint influences of linguistic knowledge and psychological processes. (GLR)

An exploratory study tracked the year-long development of second graders' use of the decoding by analogy strategy to generate spellings. Subjects, 20 second graders form one intact classroom in a middle-class neighborhood school in the intermountain west, were taught decoding by analogy through direct instruction and by incorporating the strategy…

Used multiple case studies to examine the writing of eight second graders in a dual curriculum school with Hebrew as an additional language. Findings revealed some letter and directional reversals, mostly conventional word boundaries, and invented spellings in both languages. Evidence suggests that learning to write in an additional language is an…

Illustrates the way in which a first grade boy overcame his writing anxiety and progressed through initial attempts at writing with the guidance and support of his teachers. (BB)